


Nightmares and Talks

by GalacticNerds



Category: Original Work, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Child of Apollo (Percy Jackson), Crushes, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Nicknames, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Sleep Deprivation, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 01:16:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17335922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalacticNerds/pseuds/GalacticNerds
Summary: It was somewhere between 11:30 pm and 12:00 am, the hours when it was common to see Lian in the infirmary or her study working on anything and everything to avoid sleep, when Lian shot up in a cold sweat due to another nightmare about Phillip and her mother, Alexis. The same nightmares she would stay up all night and day sometimes running on nothing more than 30 minutes of sleep and ungodly amounts of coffee to avoid.





	Nightmares and Talks

It was somewhere between 11:30 pm and 12:00 am, the hours when it was common to see Lian in the infirmary or her study working on anything and everything to avoid sleep, when Lian shot up in a cold sweat due to another nightmare about Phillip and her mother, Alexis. The same nightmares she would stay up all night and day sometimes running on nothing more than 30 minutes of sleep and ungodly amounts of coffee to avoid. Sometimes the nightmares were about them shouting about how Lian should have saved them, how they should still be alive. Other times it was the fire or the battle over and over and over again, in perfect detail from the screams all the way down to the placement of the hair on their heads.

Now it was, maybe, 2:40 am, Lian hadn't been able to check yet, tear streaks running down her cheeks with fresh tears soon on the way, curled against her headboard legs against chest and face in knees, shoulders shaking, and ginger blonde hair tousled and unbrushed. The girl didn't make a sound about going to someone this late at night, besides she didn't want to be a burden. So she would stay like this til morning when she could talk to Ribbon or Paige about it.

******

It had become normality for Blaise to walk up the old stairs at far-to-early o'clock after working in the bunker all day, stopping only for food and water breaks on a promise he made to Lian. Opening his bedroom door, which coincidently was across from Lian's, he set down his toolbox just inside. The boy would have fully stepped inside if it hadn't been for the noise.

Blaise had no idea what the noise was, but it worried him, the main reason being it had come from Lian's room. Quickly wiping down his hands with the oil rag he kept in his toolbox, he cautiously walked the three steps it took to cross the hall. He reached up to knock on the door, but he hesitated, the noise could be nothing, it may just be Phoebus walking around within her owner's room. But he remembered that nowadays Phoebus slept with Ribbon that way their friend would rest easier knowing she had a hellhound sized golden retriever at her side. Pressing his ear to the door to try and decipher the sound, he heard it again that noise, it sounded like...soft crying? So, out of worry and panic that overtook the anxiety and all the thoughts that told him not to, he stepped back and knocked

*******

The room had been quiet for a few moments, as Lian was slowly running out of tears to cry. Then a knock broke the almost silence, she brought her legs from her chest slowly. Who could be knocking at 3:20 am? , as the clock on her wall told her, whoever it was she sure as hell didn't want them to see her like this. At her most vulnerable moment. So after wiping her eyes and nose, so she looked like she had only just been sleeping, and praying to the gods above whoever it was wasn't going to ask about her red puffy eyes. She walked over to the door and gingerly opening it so she could peek outside into the hallway, only to be met face-to-face with the milk chocolate eyes of Blaise Hunter.

*******

Blaise had waited in the hall for about a minute or two after knocking. He chuckled to himself  _I'm waiting in a hall for a Hall_  he loved these stupid jokes, they helped cover everything else up. Then there was shuffling from within the room and he was back fully in the present moment, Blaise didn't know what to expect so what the door reveal surprised him slightly. Heck, he didn't even think the door would open! But, it did just that and had opened some to reveal, Lian! or it was half of Lian's face really but none the less.

A burning sunset orange eye looked at him for a second, or two, before the door opened wider revealing the matching eye, her tupé skin, and ginger blonde hair that had natural lowlights to it that was more disheveled than normal. The shirt she wore was baggy and hung at her thigh it seemed to be an old band shirt it, but was dark and Blaise couldn't read the faded writing, the pajama pants she wore were plaid and covered her feet.

 _Cute_  was the only thought that came to mind at the time before he shook his head 'Now is not the time for this' Blaise scolded himself

"Hey, Lian" He greets slowly inspecting her eyes, it was red as if she had been crying "everything ok?"

"Yeah, I'm" She cleared her throat "I'm good," Blaise raised an eyebrow at her

"You sure? You look like you've been crying. You can tell me if anything is bothering you," On the outside, he was giving the amount of worry any friend would, but on the inside, he was freaking out. Blaise wanted to tell her everything would be ok and hold her close and hurt whoever made her cry. But he knew better than to show that.

********

She was trying to stay strong, but it was hard. Her mind told her to spill everything that was bothering her, but she couldn't.

"It's just, uh, just nightmares and stuff ya know?" Lian scratched the back of her neck looking at this absolute Aphroditus in front of her. Blaise was wearing a gray shirt that stuck to his body due to working in his bunker all day, hugging his chest in all the right places, his skin was golden with oil and ash, jeans stained with oil from over the years, and tan work boots. Then there were his eyes. Oh, gods his eyes. They weren't just milk chocolate, inside were flecks of gold, red, and orange like a fireplace.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Blaise asked, 

 _How was he so calm?_ Not trusting her voice, Lian nodded slowly and stepped back to let him inside. He stepped over the threshold and into her room, he reached for the light then stopped when Lian grabbed his forearm her eyes begging him not too, instead, she took his calloused hand in her's and lead him to the bed, he sat on the edge and she sat behind him.

**********

When Lian took Blaise's hand he could feel the callouses on her fingers. But her hands weren't calloused from work like his, no they were from the rusted strings of her guitar and pulling on her bow constantly. But they fit her well and only added to her physique in his mind, for you see in Blaise's head Lian was the most beautiful person he had ever met, but she was also fragile and broken. Like him. Which in some way was reassuring, but he wasn't sure why. It could be because it meant he wasn't the only one who was fragile and hurt, or it could be that it gave him a reason to protect her as much as she would allow. Maybe even help rebuild her.

Blaise agreed with himself that it was the latter of the two possibilities.

Now he sits quietly on the bed waiting for Lian to start talking, after 3 long drawn out minutes of waiting he decided to start the talking.

"Lian, if you don't wanna talk you don't have to," Blaise reassured her, turning his head to look at her, she took a deep breath

"No, no it's ok," she let out the breath "Gods, where do I start?"

"How about," Blaise had to pause and think "Where the nightmares start?" _Smart Answer Hunter_. He snarked in his head, but the thought quickly dispersed when Lian gave a single nod, and he looked forward again

"They all start basically the same way. With a dark room, black on all sides, and then my mother appears shouting about how I should have saved her. With the image of the house burning down behind her," Another pause and a choked noise "then there's Philip and it's just him lying in my arms, the battle playing over and over again in front of me." Blaise felt a weight between his shoulder blades, turning his head to the left some it showed that it was Lian. He looks forward again.

"Then he" her voice trembled "he opens his eyes and he, he" there was a choking noise behind him and his back felt wet. Lian was crying.

******

She couldn't hold it in any longer, the image of her little brother's body whispering about how he should have gone home to Eli, and how she should be lying on the floor in a pool of blood was too much. She tried to stop the tears but they kept coming, suddenly she was being pushed back onto the ned and had something warm wrapped around her. That something turned out to be Blaise.

He was holding her so her face was buried in his chest and his arms wrapped around her. She fisted her hands in the fabric of his shirt, not even caring about the oil, grease, and ash on the rough clothing. Lain hiccuped and cried for a while, she was unsure for how long though, but sooner or later sleep began to pull her away again. She shook her head to get rid of the need for sleep, still too scared to close her eyes again.

"Its ok Sunshine, I'll be right here if you need me again" Blaise whispers above her, and slowly very slowly she allows for sleep to take over again.

*****

Blaise waited until her breathing evened out before he even thought of what to do next. After mulling over it for a time he decided he would be an idiot to leave Lian like this. Since he just promised her he would stay, and Blaise would never break a promise. Especially one he made to Lian.

So instead he kicked his boots off the edge and patted around the bed for the blanket that should still be crumbled near the foot of it. After a few moments, he took hold of the fabric and brought it up to his chin before he tucked Lian further into his chest. Hiding her away from the world with the help of the blanket.


End file.
